Airline leadership asleep at the switch

Question: Air traffic controllers are caught napping, holes blow open in jetliners, planes bump into each other on a busy runway--and suddenly the Federal Aviation Administration finds itself the object of national criticism and derision. Agency officials were apparently aware of the potential problems but did not consider them urgent until they were exposed. How can leaders better identify the handful of incipient problems that genuinely requiring immediate attention and create enough urgency around them to overcome internal conflicts and bureaucratic inertia?

Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the airlines should share the blame for the rotten culture at the heart of the industry these days. The potential damage from these problems could be devastating, particularly when one considers the nature of traveling by plane. We’re not just talking about the way that poor performance can affect a stock price; no, this is matter of many lives possibly being lost. People have to feel safe when they fly, and they need to be safe, but they’ll lose confidence in air travel if they keep seeing evidence of lapses and, worse, evidence of the lapses’ being overlooked.

Why are we just hearing about these difficulties lately? Clearly they’ve been happening for a long time. The FAA and the heads of the airlines are guilty of poor leadership in failing to address the issues early. Like the napping air traffic controllers, they’ve been asleep at the switch. The people who run a federal regulatory agency such as the FAA, as well as those who guide the airlines, have to recognize that their work entails a continuous process of review and improvement. They have to be constantly on guard for even the most minor glitch that conceivably could lead down a path to the loss of human life. If inertia or internal conflicts exist within an organization, it’s up to the people in charge to nip those in the bud. Good leaders don’t let such matters reach an advanced stage.

The underlying issue here is that the airlines are facing so many pressures over costs and competition, sometimes corners may be cut and problems overlooked. But that’s no excuse for allowing the possibility of grave harm to one’s customers. The FAA and the airlines must be more vigilant. The one-year anniversary this week of the BP oil spill should serve as reminder of the devastation that can result when an industry and the agency regulating it grow sluggish.

View all panel responses to the discussion Wake-up call for the FAA?

Yash Gupta  | Apr 19, 2011 12:12 PM